~from Author's POV 3rd person~
Kirito had gone back to the same inn as the night before, but he couldn't sleep. He stared at the ceiling, arms folded behind his head as images of all the people he'd left behind in reality swept through his mind. My aunt...my cousin...friends...classmates... The final face to flash in front of his eyes was a certain girl with orangish-brown hair and a kind smile. He sat up quickly, wiping the last image from his mind.
Heart beating quickly, he finally sighed and put his right hand in front of his eyes, as though that would stop the memories of not only her but all of them from flooding his consciousness. Finally, "Looks like I'm not getting any sleep tonight," he muttered as he stood up and exited the inn, noting the position of the moon in the sky as he checked his map. Since I've got nothing to do, it couldn't hurt to do another sweep of the area, right?
Since he'd done his recon yesterday, he knew where he was headed, and he moved quickly with purposeful steps towards the mini oasis that he'd seen the day before.
That girl in the tree...who was she? She's probably an AI or an NPC...
but what if she's not? Then what is she doing out there?
As the questions barraged him, Kirito traveled through the thick woods, observing the occasional flash of passing fairies. Checking his map every few minutes to make sure that he a) wasn't going in the wrong direction and that b) he didn't accidentally walk of the small cliff in the dead of night, he finally came to his vantage point from the day before.
The tree...it's glowing, he noted with surprise. The tree that the girl had been sitting in the day before was light up with a soft light, illuminating the clearly and making the clear water sparkle radiantly. It was then that Kirito saw a series of small ledges that lead down from the cliff and to the clearing. Moving carefully, he moved from one ledge to another, jumping each time and stabilizing himself before attempting the next leap. Finally, he reached the bottom of the clearing, and as though a moth drawn to a flame, he felt himself being pulled towards the tree. When he was close enough to reach out a hand and touch it, he felt a slight breeze.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" a soft voice asked, and Kirito spun around, hands already going to his swords before realizing that it was the girl.
How'd she sneak up on me? "It is," he agreed cautiously, hands going down to his sides as he relaxed but stayed on guard. "So...who are you?" He paused and winced. "Sorry. That must have sounded incredibly rude. I mean..."
She tilted her head and gave him a soft smile. "It's all right. You're curious. You were here the other day." Nothing in her voice implied that the information was up for debate or confirmation. "So you want to know who I am? Or do you want to know what I am?"
Kirito scratched his face, smiling awkwardly as his confusion grew. "Aren't they basically the same thing?"
The girl sighed as though disappointed. "No. Think about it this way: if I asked you who you were, you'd say Kirito. But if I asked you what you are, you'd say that you're the remnants of Kazuto Kirigawa's reality transported into a virtual realm. Or at least, that's the partial truth, although I doubt you'd respond that way." She smiled sadly as Kirito looked slightly shocked. "Who implies identity; what implies the basic foundation of your existence. What...is a lot simpler than who." She turned slightly before looking at Kirito with a small smile. "I'll answer one question. You can choose - if you'd rather know who I am or what I am."
Kirito was more or less completely confused by this strange girl who was spouting philosophy at him, but his thoughts were already racing. If I ask who she is, she'll presumably give me a name. I could search the information broker's guide, but if it doesn't pop up their information, I'm screwed. I'll have no where else to go with that information. Meanwhile, if I ask what she is, then at least I'll be able to gather a bit more information about this level and what type of opponents we're looking at. Even without schema on that, it could still be potentially useful. Kirito's eyes met hers with confidence. "Then what are you?"
The smile dropped off her face and the light in her eyes dimmed as she stared at the ground, and Kirito was sure that it was just the angle of the moon or maybe the breeze, but it looked like the tree's soft light also diminished slightly. "If that's what you want to know, then I'll tell you. I'm a nymph, or more precisely, a Dryad."
"A dryad, hmm..." Kirito assessed analytically, placing his hand on his chin as he tried to recall anything he'd ever heard about nymphs and dryads, but his mind was blank. "Are there more of you?"
"I am the only me," she said, sounding upset.
"I'm sorry," Kirito said, wincing. "I didn't mean that. I meant...are there any more of your kind on this level?"
The girl gave a final look towards Kirito, looking vulnerable and hurt and alone. "I'm not going to tell you," she said before she melded into the tree beside her and disappeared.
"Hey! Wait up!" Kirito called out, reaching towards the tree, but all he touched was bark. Then, as he realized that the tree and the girl were one and that he didn't know if she could feel him touching the tree (which could result in a major misunderstanding and Kirito undoubtedly being beaten up or drowned in the pond), he immediately drew back his hand and took a step back. With a sigh, he turned and looked up at the moon. "I don't get it. NPCs can't refuse a question like that. If they don't have the information, that's one thing, but to hold it and refuse to respond..." He shook his head, confused and bewildered from his weird experience. "Is she an AI then? She has to be. As far as I know, no player can be a dryad...or at least, I've never heard of it." He a final sigh, he knew that he had no choice but to return, so he went back to the ledges and climbed his way back up and slowly returned to his inn, all the while thinking of the girl, but for some reason, he couldn't accurately picture her face. Sure, it had been dark, but there'd been treelight nearby. So why couldn't he picture her image? All he could remember was her voice, and even that was fading from his mind.
Confused and unsure if he hadn't even just dreamed the whole thing, he went back and slept until dawn.